Stylish cameras are generally hard to come by. The film market has always had some great examples, but the digital market is saturated with plastic-bodied contraptions with as much style as a 1980′s cellphone. Recently, however, there have been some examples which caught our eye.

The Olympus EP-1 is an attempt to recreate the style of the Olypus “Pen” film camera. And it partially does. It supports the micro four thirds system, which means it has a sensor which gives much better pictures than your point-and-shoot. And it allows interchangeable lenses too. And the view from the front is quite compelling. But it is as if the designers forgot their brief when it came to the back of the camera, which looks like it has been taken directly from a modern point-and-shoot.

The Panasonic GF1 is another stylish micro four thirds camera, and competes directly with the Olympus. We prefer the styling of the GF1, with it’s more minimalist, less-kitschy appearance, and Panasonic is renowned for producing great, vibrant images.

But the clear winner here, both in terms of style and capability is the Leica M9 (pictured above). Leica has always produced beautiful cameras, and with the M9 you can literally see the pedigree stretching all the way back to the M3 of 1954. It is an 18 megapixel full frame Rangefinder camera, and camera and 50mm lens weigh less than many digital SLR bodies without lenses. The portability and style make it the ultimate travel camera, and the fact that Cartier Bresson used to shoot with a Leica makes it even more compelling.

For us it is usually an “Overnighter” or a “Weekender”, and there are a number of favourites we have. Johnston and Murphy, well-known for it’s shoes, has a number of great luggage pieces we like, including the 1850 Collection Duffle and the 20″ Satchel. British company Pickett offers a very nice selection including their leather Weekender. Glaser Designs and Floto also offer some nice leather pieces. However, the ones that really caught our eye were:

The Mulholland Vintage Waxed Canvas Safari bag
Mulholland started their family business 20 years ago, and have been offering luggage combining functionality and style ever since. We particularly like the classic styling and sturdy canvas material used for their Vintage Safari bag. And it would look right at home in the back of the Maserati GranCabrio.

Puma Heritage Grip Bag
The Puma Archive collection provides a fresh look on some classic designs. Their Heritage Grip is no exception – an old-school duffle with some classic styling hints, especially those rope handles. Something to take on a boys weekend to Dublin.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label Luggage
Renowned luggage designer Bill Amberg has teamed up with one of our favourite brands of blended whisky to create a collection of luxury travel accessories for men. The bags epitomise craftsmanship, quality and rarity – they include the “Weekender”, the “Traveller”, and our personal favourite, the “Overnighter” (pictured), which includes a complimentary bottle of Blue Label to make that weekend trip a little more enjoyable.

The first practical example of a self-winding or automatic watch is the Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch of 1931. It took technology that had been successfully used and improved upon it to make a watch which would stay wound for 35 hours.

Automatic watches have been in mainstream use since the 1960s, and as a result, watch winders began to become popular for those individuals fortunate to own more than one self-winding watch. Watch winders sell in relatively low quantities, which means that they can be somewhat expensive. They are available in single or multiple rotator configurations, and are really a device of convenience – allowing you to switch watches without having to go through the process of winding, setting the date, adjusting the moon phase etc. on your dormant watch.

Traditionally, many have been designed to look more like a jewellery case than anything you might want in your dressing room. One recent arrival, and without a doubt one of our favourites, is the beautiful and minimalistic Swiss Kubik winder. Firstly, the design is much more in keeping with the type of style we prefer, and secondly, it is programmable via USB port, so you can determine the number of rotations per day as well as the direction of rotation, which fulfils the geek in us.

Kramer showing Jerry the contents of his pocket
Kramer: Nobody carries wallets anymore. I mean, they went out with powdered wigs. Yeah, see here’s what you need. Just a couple of cards and your bankroll. See, keep the big bills on the outside.
Jerry: That’s a five.

The problem with a wallet is that it ruins the cut of your jacket or trousers, especially if it is one the size of George Costanza’s. Ideally if you are wearing black tie it might be best to either go without a wallet or carry a more compact money clip. Of course, if you are Scottish you can just drop it all in your sporran. There are wallets, however, which are designed to stay slim and not give you a bad back or bulge.

Our two favourites are:

1) The LiteFold TL2 ultralight wallet – this 8 gram miracle is made of the same material used in spinnakers – ripstop nylon, which makes it super light and super thin.

2) The All-Ett International Wallet – this is available in either leather or spinnaker cloth, and allows you to carry cards and cash without dragging you down

If we do opt to travel with a money clip, we prefer the type which allows you to carry cards and cash together. The Slim Clip fits the bill perfectly in that respect. The ultra thin stainless steel clip uses double-sided grip tight clips that securely hold both cash on one side and credit cards on the other.

It has a bold, handsome 42mm stainless steel case with a black face, covered in an anti-reflective, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal. For those occasions when you have to swim to shore or dive for gold, it offers water resistance down to 600m, and it is stylish enough be worn with your wetsuit or your dinner suit.

It is made by a company with an out of this world tradition, but above all, it’s a watch worn by James Bond, and if it is good enough  for 007 then it’s good enough for us.